This is the 3rd of 5 posts in the series Note to self.
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In my last post, I explained why due dates can be so detrimental to productivity and sanity. Most tasks simply don’t need a due date because there’s no logical way to decide precisely when you should do them. There’s also no way to be certain that you can consistently carry out tasks at times designated by your past self. Too much life gets in the way.
The best way to handle tasks with no logical due date is to put them in a priority-based list.
Why priorities beat due dates and boost productivity
- You aren’t constantly bombarded with alerts. If you have tasks coming due constantly, there’s little chance that you’ll be able execute them at the predesignated time. When you can’t execute tasks, you have to either ignore them or postpone them. The more this happens, the less productive you feel. It can really eat at your sanity too.
- Priorities ward off procrastination. Assigning due dates to tasks is a way to hide them. Out of sight, out of mind. For some tasks this is okay. For others, it’s a symptom of avoidance. Having a single list for all prioritized tasks lets you see everything that your past self has decided that you need to do. More on this below.
- Priorities lead to smarter decisions about what should be top priority at any given time. A single list of priorities makes it easier to assess the relative value of each task in the list. You’ll probably decide that some tasks are more important than others. You’ll also decide that some things aren’t worth doing. Don’t feel bad about purging tasks that have no value.
- Prioritization promotes uni-tasking. If two unrelated tasks come due at the same time, it can temporarily short-circuit your brain. Which one should be done first? What if you can’t do both at the same time? A short-circuited brain usually does a half-ass job, and sometimes it just gives up completely. If you’ve pre-defined priorities, it’s much more obvious what to attack first. And you can do it on your own terms.
How I pull this off
I use Remember the Milk to manage my tasks. RTM lets you assign priorities of 1, 2, or 3 to tasks. As I note above, it’s important to make sure that all of your prioritized tasks are on one central list that you see regularly.
I use a smart list to create a “dashboard” view of all my active tasks. Its name is Active, and it shows me my due tasks first, then sorts by priority.
If you happen to use RTM, and want the criteria I use for my Active list, here it is:
dueBefore:tomorrow or (not priority:none and due:never)In English, this tells RTM to show me all tasks due today or before and also all tasks with a priority and no due date.
It’s basically a hybrid list of due and prioritized tasks. It ensures that I don’t miss any tasks that (really) are due today, regardless of context. It lets me keep an eye on priority-based tasks, and I can quickly rearrange priorities if I need to.
Most importantly, if I notice that my Active list is getting too big, I know that I need to start limiting additional tasks, get more done, or rethink whether the tasks that have been sitting in Active for a while are really worth my while.
I use due dates as little as possible. Most of the time, my Active list only contains prioritized tasks. When a “due” task appears, I know that it really is due today, and I need to give it special attention. I think this makes due dates much more effective – I’m not conditioned to disregard them.
3 practically efficient tips for effective prioritization
- Use priority 1 sparingly. Just like having too many due dates can condition you to ignore them, setting too many priority 1s can diminish the sense of urgency associated with your top-priority tasks.
- Ideally, your priority 3 tasks should outnumber your others. I often think of priorities 2 and 3 as the minor leagues. Most tasks should start as priority 3, then get promoted upward. Again, this keeps priority 1 as the most urgent or the most “active.” The others are on deck. Of course, sometimes urgent things come up and go straight to priority 1. That’s fine.
- If you notice that a task has been priority 3 for a long time, question whether it deserves any priority. In other words, question whether it should even be on your to do list. Deleting is not always a cop out; sometimes it’s simply the result of a clear mind.
I think the three priority levels offered by RTM are just right. If you use a system that offers less than three priority levels, I still recommend keeping most of your prioritized tasks at a level below 1.
Teach me
How are you using priorities in your task system?
You can see the other posts in this series by clicking on tag: note to self.
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In the overflowing sea of “GTD”, this blog is an island of sanity. (I was directed here by a post at MacSparky. People should organize things in a way that makes sense to them. There is a classic scene in the movie “High Fidelity” where John Cusak is re-organizing his record collection. His buddy drops by and tries to guess the new system. Not alphabetical, not by genre. Finally it dawns on him…AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL!! Anyway, my point is; many people think, organize and execute in an abstract way. “Abstract” is not the correct term, but I’m guessing the author of this blog understands. GTD is great for those that think that way. But does every damn “to do” app have to adopt it? End of rant. This blog has a new fan.
Thanks, Patrick. High Fidelity is a great movie, and that was a great scene. I like the connection you made.
It’s unfortunate that “GTD,” a term that really means taking a common sense approach to managing information and tasks, has gotten trite and carries a bit of a cult-like connotation.
GTD systems can backfire if they’re abused. I have a working theory that people overload themselves in modern times because they start “aping” their electronic productivity tools. More generally, I think there is a tendency to have the false belief that you can multitask like a machine because we are saturated by machines. In short, we’re subconsciously trying to emulate computers.
Any productivity system should ultimately be measured by its ability to make you better — meaning better than you were without. I think people rarely attempt to measure this. I’ve only begun to do more thinking in this area.
You have another new fan. I just finished reading Note to self series and feel like I have just found the Rosetta Stone. I have been using Remember the Milk for years but have always struggled with an out of control daily list of things to do. My approach was to put a due date on everything which led to more frustration than anything else. Thanks for this great tip and I hope you write more about how you use Remember the Milk.
Thanks, Mike! You’re not alone on the due date problem. I had to hit rock bottom myself before I realized that there had to be a better way. Of course, no single method works for everyone, but I’m glad my priority-based approach works for you too.
I will likely write more on RTM in the future.
I love the ideas you’ve presented in this series! So much so, I’ve completely overhauled my RTM backlog over a period of the last couple of weeks.
However, there is a particular question below that is just getting to me, as it is causing me practical dilemmas in applying your techniques.
I’m a little puzzled by the “due:never” part.
What do you do with a legitimate deadline that requires some backed-up preparation to ensure it is completed before that?
E.g. the last date when I need a new prescription – I should get the doctors appointment booked a few days/a week ahead of time to ensure I have buffer to book the appointment, and fit the pharmacy visit into my schedule instead of having to rush on the last day.
I’d be inclined to add a priority AND a due date. However by your criteria, I don’t see that task until the date itself.
So what date should I use? The “real” date when it really really is due and I can’t possibly ignore it (by which point I’m too late to schedule an appointment and get the pharmacy in on a sane timeframe)? Or a made-up date based on my estimate/calculation of how long I think its going to take the pre-requisite tasks.
I’m inclined to the latter… yet that seems to be completely at odds with the whole thrust of the argument you are making. And hence my dilemma – I want to buy your argument, yet I’d be very intrigued to find out how you deal with the above situation, which in my experience at least is a semi-frequent occurence. (About one or two unique and important events a month.)
Hi Rachel,
Based on your description of the prescription task, my first thought is that you should split that into more than one task. Good GTD-style tasks should always be as actionable as possible. Technically, getting a new prescription is a mini project involving more than one task: set appoint, go to pharmacy, etc.
If the doctor’s appointment is a critical task that must be done a week prior to the pharmacy visit, you might want to create a task to set the doctor’s appoint using a real due date. Since it merely involves making a call, it should be easy to execute and check off.
Another approach I’ve used:
Since RTM doesn’t have a “start date” feature, one trick I’ve used is to create a task whose sole purpose is to make another priority based task.
In other words, if you don’t want to see a “priority 1″ task before you can act on it, create a task due on day X like “Create task to fill prescription.” Once you create the priority-based task, you can check off that due task.
Hope that helps some. In my mind, any action is fair game with GTD — even the act of making new tasks!
Hi Eddie,
Thanks for the prompt reply! Yes, your additional tips certainly help. There’s a few extra key concepts and clarity in there that give me new food for thought.
Particularly the “redirection” concept of adding a task to add a task – separates out the date vs. priority distinction which was a large part of my dilemma in handling these tasks. A neat solution, far neater than I hoped for, so thankyou!!
I’ve heard a lot about GTD, both the real benefits, and some of the hype… but not actually yet returned to the source and read the real book yet. I really should!
On projects, yes I’ve heard that pure GTD advocates much more attention to this. However, RTM (my favourite, and long-standing tool) is not neccessarily very well geared towards projects. I know there are ways round it, but I’ve found them a little clunky and impractical to use. (I do use tags a lot, but when a task ends with 5+ tags it starts to feel like I’m micromanaging my task list.) Do you have a favourite way of grouping together “project” tasks in RTM?
Thanks again, and look forward to reading your blog further!
Rachel
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